St. Joseph defeats Suffield in Class L girls soccer final

By Doug Bonjour

Updated
5:50 pm EST, Saturday, November 21, 2015

WATERBURY — Considering how easy it seemed at times for St. Joseph to attack the opponent’s net and produce quality scoring chances, Class L’s top seed could have done a whole lot more damage on the scoreboard in its latest trip to the state final.

But while the Cadets came up empty on a handful of occasions Saturday, they did more than enough to leave Municipal Stadium with a 2-0 victory over second-seeded Suffield and yet another state title.

“Offensively we played very, very well,” said Nogueira, the Cadets’ coach. “Again, which has been the story of our season, I thought we could’ve had three or four (goals). But that’s soccer.

“I was extremely pleased with how we played. We played to feet, and we were dangerous moving forward.”

St. Joseph captured its first state title since 2013 — when it beat Suffield 2-1 to win Class LL — and fourth overall. Suffield fell to 5-5-1 all-time in the state finals.

St. Joseph's Jenna Bike celebrates with Lindsey Savka after Savka scored in the second half against Suffield during the CIAC Class L championship on Nov. 21, 2015 in Waterbury. St. Joseph won 2-0.

St. Joseph's Jenna Bike celebrates with Lindsey Savka after Savka scored in the second half against Suffield during the CIAC Class L championship on Nov. 21, 2015 in Waterbury. St. Joseph won 2-0.

Photo: Matthew Brown / For Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Matthew Brown / For Hearst Connecticut Media

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St. Joseph's Jenna Bike celebrates with Lindsey Savka after Savka scored in the second half against Suffield during the CIAC Class L championship on Nov. 21, 2015 in Waterbury. St. Joseph won 2-0.

St. Joseph's Jenna Bike celebrates with Lindsey Savka after Savka scored in the second half against Suffield during the CIAC Class L championship on Nov. 21, 2015 in Waterbury. St. Joseph won 2-0.

Photo: Matthew Brown / For Hearst Connecticut Media

St. Joseph defeats Suffield in Class L girls soccer final

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“It’s awesome,” said Bike, who scored the match’s first goal in the 23rd minute and earned Most Oustanding Player honors. “This has been the goal since Day One, so it’s just incredible.”

The Cadets (22-1) didn’t afford Suffield (19-1) any time to relax defensively, outshooting the NCCC powerhouse 20-3, including 11-1 in the second half.

Suffield had built a reputation a reputation as a defensive stalwart — with only three goals allowed over its previous 19 matches — but was missing three players because of injury, none more important than senior midfielder Julia Picard. The Cadets made them pay.

Shortly after hammering a free kick from just outside the box off the crossbar, Bike cut through the defense and drilled a shot inside the far post for a 1-0 lead. The score stayed that way until the 51st minute, when Lindsey Savko headed in a corner kick from Bike.

“We just told ourselves that we had to come out and set the tone early,” Bike said. “That’s exactly what we did.”

The Wildcats were undermanned, but down 1-0 they at least had a shred of hope. Savko’s goal made life much more difficult.

“Our offense wasn’t going through there,” said Suffield coach David Sullivan, referring to a St. Joseph defense that posted shutouts in three of its four tournament games. “I said, ‘Hey, it’s 1-0 here, let’s get one counter-attack and anything can happen.’ The last 15 minutes we had our chances, but too little, too late.”

The Cadets made sure those final 15 minutes meant everything.

“We were more motivated because we lost to Ridgefield (in the FCIAC final),” senior defender Leah Lewis said. “We wanted to come out and show that we were still a great team. We still had more energy than teams and we wanted to work the hardest.”